A Series of Prompts
by A Fanfiction Angel
Summary: Prompts taken from ncisdaily April 2010 calendar on Livejournal. One chapter per prompt. Various ships and characters included.
1. Time

**Disclaimer:** I don't own NCIS. I dearly wished I do but I don't. I do own a hand-made Caf!Pow cup though.

_Written for NCIS Daily_

Prompt #1/ April 1st 2010

**Time**

_7 o'clock sharp. Formal dress._

_Where are you taking me Jethro?_

The ride to the restaurant fell into a silence, not an awkward one mind you, but a silence that spoke for more than words could.

When they stopped outside a classy restaurant that had red velvet curtains outlining the windows, dim atmosphere and looked to be dinner by candlelight Jenny was reminded of a much early memory.

"Are you trying to impose something here?" she turned her head slightly to look at him.

He shrugged one shoulder casually, a gesture so manly and Jenny couldn't help but smile.

He opened the door for her like a true gentlemen and informed the waiter of their party of two. They were led to a small but comfortable booth tucked away at the back of the restaurant, away from prying eyes.

As they ordered they made light banter, Jenny having been here before on a strictly professional meeting with SecNav made suggestions as to what were the highlights on the menu. The man sitting across from her merely grunted in response.

It wasn't awkward of embarrassing like that of a first date. No secretive looks, hidden blushes or clumsy footsie underneath the tabletop.

There was that tint of familiarity underneath it all, like what they were doing was innate. Yet there was just enough mystery for it to be not called a dinner between old friends.

He admired the dark blue dress that she had picked out, thin straps that criss-crossed over on her back leaving the viewers from behind a rather gaping view of her pale, creamy skin. Not that he minded though when he gently placed a hand there as he had walked her to the car when he picked her up, and again when he walked her to the restaurant. Jen hadn't complained.

He listened attentively, she did most of the talking. He watched as her lips moved rapidly, and noticed the way her eyes would light up when she talked about a particularly fond memory. She paused mid-sentence when he daringly reached over the table to tuck a piece of stray red hair behind her ear. They stared at each other for a moment, relishing it.

He said goodnight to her on her doorstep. Any other time, she would have asked him to come in, she would have served him some bourbon, both would have gotten slightly tipsy, made out and ended up between the sheets only to pretend everything was normal the next day.

"Good night Jethro."

"Night, Jen."

_Time._


	2. Wolf

Prompt #2/ April 2nd 2010

**Wolf**

The two figures emerged from amongst the prickly bushes relatively unscathed, although the same could not be said for their clothing.

"I just bought this jacket Tony, it was brand new and now look at it – ruined!"

"Quit complaining McWhiney. Get Gibbs to buy you a new one."

"I told you we should've taken the track instead," McGee pointed to the trail on the map he was holding, "but no, just because you're the senior field agent you know best. I am the boy scout here you know!" A scowl graced his features. "I mean you always talk about experience and knowing where you're...."

Tony ignored him and continued trudging through the dense forest, looking for signs of a dead body, or multiple dead bodies judging by the amount of blood spatter they found on the back of Tyson's truck.

He came to a standstill. "Is it just me Probie or did we pass that tree just a moment ago?"

McGee paused from his rambling to follow Tony's line of sight. "Err... no Tony I don't think so. You must be imagining things."

Dinozzo shook his head stubbornly. "No I'm sure we've been here before!" he insisted.

Suddenly there was the sound of branches snapping.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

The same sound was heard.

"That!" Tony cried.

The bushes behind them started shaking and Tony started slowly backing away.

"I'm using my Senior Field Agent privileges now McGee. Go see what's behind there," he ordered although his voice trembled.

"Me! No way! You go check it out..." McGee's palms started sweating as he slowly upholstered his gun and raised it up in front of him.

_Snap!_

The two of them nearly jumped out of their skin in fright and Tony darted behind McGee, placing two hands on either shoulder and pushing the junior agent forward.

A low, threatening growl came from a few metres away.

"Crap Tony it's a wolf!" McGee yelled and started running for his life in the other direction.

Tony followed him shouting, "I thought you said there were no wolves in this area!"

"Well I was...just...guessing Tony!" McGee replied between breaths.

Suddenly the two NCIS agents heard an eerie wolf howl.

"Great! Now his friends are gonna join him for dinner!"

"Dinner?"

"Us! We're gonna be dinner if you don't hurry up or we'll be McDead!"

"Where's our car parked?" McGee asked frantically.

There was no response.

"Tony?...Tony!"

* * *

"Ergh. Where am I?" groaned Tony. "Am I in heaven? Why is everything so white?"

"Tony!" a voice squealed in his ear.

"Abby?" Tony croaked. "Why are you here? Are you dead too?" He slowly opened his eyes.

"No silly! You're in hospital."

"Oh god. Please tell me I still have both legs. Those mongrels didn't eat one off did they?" He was too afraid to lift his head to see for himself.

Abby looked confused. "Wolves? What wolves?"

"We were in the forest McGee and I, looking for evidence when we stumbled on this wolf..." he trailed off.

"You tripped over while you were running and sprained your ankle! Gibbs and Ziva didn't mention any wolves when they found you."

"And McGee?"

"He's fine," Abby grinned. "He's in the waiting room. He was the one that called us."

Tony bit his lip. "Did he mention any wolves?"

Abby paused for a moment, then said, "No but he said when you tripped you hit your head awfully hard!"


	3. Mind

Prompt #3/ April 3rd 2010

**Mind**

What happened in the next couple of seconds was a shock to everyone standing in the room. It was like God had pressed the slow motion button. What everyone thought, said or did up to that moment, changed everything.

* * *

"You don't think that he's still upset about it, do you Tony?" Ziva turned to her partner with a concerned expression on her face.

She hadn't meant to hurt her friend's feelings after all. It had seemed pretty harmless at the time and when Tony did things like this he hadn't seem to mind… then again Ziva despite being adept at profiling people and reading their facial expressions could never decipher what the people closest to her were thinking.

In her right hand she held a bag containing a bagel she had bought on a whim to work. She had intended to eat it herself but it seemed McGee might need a bit of TOC? TIC?

* * *

Tony turned his head left then right. "Probie may act like a little girl sometimes but he's still a guy deep down. Thick-skinned us NCIS men are," he puffed out his chest a little at that part.

Tony had been partners with McGee for a few years now and during that time he had seen him grow from well, a boy to a man. It was about time he finally grew a set.

He had to admit he took part in the scheming side of things with Ziva was well even though the credit for the execution was all hers.

"At least you got him a bagel," he added with an afterthought.

The rest of the elevator ride passed in silence.

* * *

Jennifer Shepherd sighed deeply. "Cynthia just let him – "

The door flung open before she even finished her sentence.

She gently placed the phone down and faced the man.

"Hello Agent Gibbs," she said in an even tone, smoothing her dress down with the palms of her hands.

Gibbs nodded back but didn't say anything. He seemed to be contemplating something, deeply.

"What is it Jethro?" she persisted.

"We seem to have a problem with one of my agents."

"We?" she cocked her head to the side. He had piqued her curiosity though so she asked, "And which one would that be? Dinozzo? McGee? David?"

"McGee."

"Ah, I see."

* * *

Training new agents was like breaking in a stallion. A stallion would come in proud, confident and wild but when broken would become placid, obedient and willing to jump on his command.

However when the horses started bickering and fighting amongst each other Gibbs had no other choice than to restrain them, lock them away in their separate sheds and discipline them.

It didn't work that way with agents though.

It never did.

He didn't have the foggiest idea how they had gotten into this mess. He knew about the many pranks played on McGee by Tony, the super gluing his fingers to the keyboard and McGee getting his revenge by making Tony's chair collapse under him as he sat down. There were plenty, more than he could count on his fingers and Gibbs hated using a calculator.

As he waited for the elevator with Jen he anticipated the worst.

* * *

Abby turned the music up as loud as she could, bopping her head up and down to the hypnotic beat. Her eyes were closed, her fingers were touch typing an email to one of the nuns to confirm bowling night was changed to Wednesday when suddenly she heard a soft bark. Turning around she smiled at her new friend Nella who was pawing at her feet. The adorable two year old dog that she was looking after temporarily could make anyone's heart melt. Even her silver fox – she was sure of it! Sure she was still unsure of her own strength and tended to get over excited but Gibbs was sure to love her. No one had seen him yet though, she had wanted it to be a surprise when they popped down to visit her hopefully with some new toys for her to figure out and analyse.

There was a soft _ding_ as the automatic doors opened. She swivelled around to be greeted with her favourite geek in the world. However she saw at once that something was definitely wrong.

"Timmy are you okay?"

* * *

They say everything happens for a reason. Cause and effect. Action and consequence.

For when Ziva and Tony walked into Abby's lab Ziva had failed to notice the spilt Caf!Pow on the floor which Abby had neglected to clean up. Meaning Ziva then tripped and fell backwards, landing with an _oomph_ on her back.

The bagel she was previously clutching in her right hand flew out of the bag and propelled towards McGee who was standing no more than two metres away.

Nella who was terribly excited now by all this commotion thought that she was meant to catch the bagel and so lifted up on her hind legs, caught the bagel in the air with her teeth and tackled McGee to the ground in the process.

McGee you see had been played a prank on earlier that day. Ziva had _accidentally_ spilled a cup of coffee onto McGee meaning he needed to take a shower, now that his shirt and pants were stained. As he was in there Ziva had snuck into the male change room and taken his clothes away except for his boxers. She hadn't listened to Tony on that part.

So now McGee was lying on the ground in his boxers with two year old Nella on top of him – and she was definitely not light. Saying he felt awkward would be a bit of an understatement.

"Come here Nella!" Abby beckoned and leaned forward but as she did, slipped and flew forwards landing on top of McGee. Luckily Nella had run off into a corner now, munching away at the bagel happily so she hadn't become a doggie sandwich. Abby's head was lying on his bare chest and both felt incredibly embarrassed at their current position.

Tony, seeing the hilarity of the situation as he always did, whipped his camera phone out and was about to snap a picture when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Dinozzo," a gruff voice said.

Tony gulped and turned his head around to see Gibbs and the Director standing right behind him, surveying the scene in what some might call amusement. They had decided to take the stairs since the elevator had taken too long and had made it just in time to witness all the action.

"It wasn't my fault Boss! Ziva was the one who stole McGee's clothes while he was in the shower! All I did was put super glue around the bottom of his boxers so they would stick to his pants and he wouldn't be able to take them off when he got home!" Tony argued.

Everyone was silent in the lab for a moment as the information sunk in.

"Are you saying I'm stuck to McGee?!" Abby yelled in alarm.

Tony nodded but then said, "look I'll head upstairs and see if I have any acetone…"

Jenny interrupted, "Agent Dinozzo don't move a -"

Gibbs scrunched his eyes closed and winced.


	4. Dance

Prompt #4/ April 4th 2010

**Dance**

"The autopsy gremlin is doing it again," Tony whispered into Ziva's ear.

Ziva pretended to ignore him and tried to pay attention to the Ducky's story; a story which he had been telling for the past ten minutes a quick glance at her watch had informed her.

As soon as Ducky had turned around she whispered back, "doing what Tony?"

"…what a wonderful experience that was. I had never felt younger…"Ducky continued talking oblivious to the boredom that was practically radiating off the two NCIS agents.

"You know?"

"No I do not know. Now tell me before I make up an excuse and leave you all alone here with Ducky," she threatened with a smirk.

He relented. "Okay okay. It's the pee dance."

Ziva looked bewildered. "Pee dance? Is that some colloquialism for something I do not know about?"

"It's that hopping on the spot you do when you need to go to the toilet."

"What about you two young ones? Have you ever felt like that?" Ducky asked forcing to two of them to momentarily snap their attention back to the medical examiner.

"No we haven't Ducky," Ziva responded politely. "What about it?" she directed this last bit back at Tony.

"It's beautiful."

"What?!" Ziva's voice raised several octaves causing Ducky halt in this rambling.  
Duck adjusted his glasses and said, "Is something the matter Agent David?"

Ziva shook her head. "No not at all. Please continue." And so Ducky did.

"Please continue," Tony echoed mockingly.

"How is this… pee dance Palmer is doing beautiful?" she sounded indignant.

"Well pee dancing, dancing, that's Palmer's thing."

"Thing?"

"Thing," Tony confirmed with a sure nod. "Like McGee's thing is all the technology stuff. And Abby's thing is Caf!Pow, and my thing is movies."

"What's my thing?" Ziva interjected.

Tony hesitated. "Being ninja."

"Planning to kill you," Ziva said in a sarcastic voice at the same time. "I get it now. His thing."

And the two of them wordlessly continued to watch Palmer try to get his mentor's attention desperately.


	5. Cowboy

Prompt #5/ April 5th 2010

**Cowboy**

I gazed upon the endless stretch of desert plains, the huge dust balls rolling across my line of sight. There was complete silence in the air save for the creaking sound. The creaking sound that was Bear and Hogs Pub's rusty swinging sign.

Using my right hand I tilted my hat down slightly, readjusting what wasn't necessary. Next I spat out the cigar I had in my mouth and crushed it with the left heel of my boot.

I whipped out the big guns from my two shoulder holsters, relishing the smoothness of the gun's handles. What a fine day it was.

Catching movement in my peripheral vision I swung my body around to the left, my weapons raised in front of me, _bang! Bang!_ The man collapsed in a heap.

Hearing another scuffle to my right I took a step to the left to dodge the incoming bullets and _bang! Bang!_ Another one down.

Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead and my skin was starting to burn under the unforgiving sun. I found himself ducking under the line of fire and rolling behind barrels. _Bang! Bang! _When I realised I was cornered I whistled loudly. Sure enough, my faithful horse galloped over to where I was, that beautiful stallion with its brown coat and long black mane. Swinging one arm and one leg over I lifted myself almost effortlessly onto the horse.

Another day Tony Dinozzo would catch those bastards. I allowed a smile of satisfaction to grace my face as I rode off into the sunset.

* * *

"Tony! Tony!" someone shouted in my ear. I was rudely jolted awake to the sound of my co-worker's voice. Leaping clear out of my seat I yelled, "On your six boss!"

Looking around the bullpen I soon realised I had made a fool of myself as said boss was nowhere to be found and McGee and Ziva were giving me a strange look.

"You should stop sleeping on the job Tony," Ziva commented. "However your dream seemed very… how shall I put it? Interesting?" she said with a knowing smirk.

"It was! I was a cowboy bounty hunter who was on a mission to take down these guys who –"

I was interrupted when Gibbs walked by, "Gear up!"

And I swore I could still hear the sound of a horse neighing in the background.


	6. Friend

Prompt #6/ April 6th 2010

**Friend**

"What exactly are we looking for?" He leant in closer to peer at the petri dish.

"See that blue spot right there?"

He nodded feverishly.

"That… is absolutely nothing at all!" she cried in delight before she burst out into peals of laughter.

His eyebrows furrowed together. "Then… what was the point of me coming down here Abs?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "I was bored, and you should stop hiding out in autopsy! Get some fresh air!" she gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder.

Palmer rubbed his shoulder. "It's hardly like there's any fresh air in here Abby," he said as his left hand pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Have you got anything else for me to bring back to Dr Mallard?"

"No but," she held up a finger, "I do need help with something."

Palmer smiled, it was nice to be able helping someone with something that wasn't to do with cadavers. "What do you need help with?"

Abby booted up her laptop, clicked onto an internet page and handed the whole machine over to Palmer who fumbled to hold it properly.

"Help me choose a new tattoo," she demanded.

"But I…I….thought you wanted me to help you with _something_. Not _something_ like this _something_."

"I thought you were my friend Palmer," Abby pouted.

Palmer felt flustered now, "Abby I am…but this…this…"

Abby did her best Gibbs glare now.

"I'm your friend," he admitted with a defeated sigh.

She brightened up again. "How's my Gibbs stare now by the way?"

"Spot on," he replied with a grin that matched the forensic scientist.


End file.
